That dear child
by NewPaladin
Summary: "The castle of Crimea, seat of the Queen, stood always proud, unwavering and wholly ignorant of the tragedies of its inhabitants." - written for the fe-contest, prompt "flying through the rainbow sky". Starring Bastian, Lucia, Geoffrey, Kieran, Marcia.


**Warning: This story contains tragic themes, character death and sadness. Do not read this if you feel happy and want to stay happy.**

Apart from that, enjoy :D

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The castle of Crimea, seat of the Queen, stood always proud, unwavering and wholly ignorant of the tragedies of its inhabitants. It was nearly a solace that most of these tragedies never left the thick castle walls.

Bastian, Count of Fayre, stopped in front of the high gate and waited while one of his servants talked with the gate guards. His gaze was trained on the dark wood of the gate, but his mind was already beyond it, contemplating the unsettling news that had reached him only a week ago.

"You may enter." one of the guards said and waved to his companion on the castle wall who passed on the order. The heavy doors swung open slowly. Bastian and his retinue passed through and entered the courtyard. It was strangely quiet. There were a few men training to the left, but it was no comparison to four months ago. Bastian already regretted his absence; he wished more than anything that he had been here, when the _incident_ happened.

He dismounted his horse near the main entrance and left the animal in the care of his page. The castle guards saluted to him on his way to his private rooms. Here in the castle itself the atmosphere was even more gloomy; people stopped their conversations suddenly, when he passed by. When they recognized him, though, they looked relieved and continued their conversation. Bastian could understand them a little. The situation was difficult and the people concerned were probably on edge.

He had just reached the door to his room, when he sensed a presence behind him. He turned and was greeted by a rather unpleasant sight. At every other day and at every other occasion she would have lifted his spirits and caused him to praise and worship her. Now the expression on her face was so dark and cold that he didn't dare to tease her. He would probably deeply regret it.

"Lady Lucia." he said with a small smile, bowed and kissed her hand. "It is a pleasure to see you again." She only nodded.

"Likewise. You got my letter." Bastian inclined his head.

"Yes, I have and I was pleasantly surprised." Anger clouded Lucia´s face and she yanked her hand back. A cold shiver ran down his spine and he quickly tried to remedy his mistake. "Please, Milady, I was not pleased with the news but only with your correspondence with me. I've never dreamed that you would ever send me a letter that is not just a response to one of mine." Lucia relaxed slightly, though the glare didn't leave her face. "But, Milady, if you allow me to ask; your letter was very short and I have to admit that I still don't exactly understand what happened. Would you be so kind and tell me more details?" He watched her worried. She made a little grimace at his question and dropped her eyes. She looked ill; her skin was pale and there were light shadows under her eyes. Her gaze was strangely dull, so much different from their last goodbye. Bastian hated to hurt her with his questions, but he needed to know. He was, after all, _his_ friend.

"Come with me." Lucia whispered. She guided him to her own room, directly next to the quarters of the Queen. Bastian hesitated at first since it was improper for him to enter a lady´s room, even with her permission. But when she sat down in the chair next to the window, she looked so weak and lonely that no rules of propriety could hold him here.

Bastian closed the door silently and walked over to stand next to her. He wanted to embrace her and console her, but she would probably kill him, if he tried anything like that without her consent. So he just stood there helpless, with his hand on the backrest of her chair.

"Well, Lady Lucia," he said reluctantly, "please tell me... how is Geoffrey?" She turned her head slightly away from him. While he could not see her expression, he could see how her whole body tensed up.

"He is..." She stopped, putting her hand over her mouth, and took a deep breath. "He-" She shook her head and stood up. "It's best if you see for yourself." She almost ran past Bastian. He could only catch a glimpse of her face, but even this short seconds of seeing the pain in her eyes made his heart clench.

Bastian followed her silently to Geoffrey´s old room. He was surprised to see a guard standing in front of it. Lucia ordered him to unlock the door. It concerned Bastian that this amount of safety measures was necessary. He had thought that Geoffrey was harmless. He almost dreaded to see his old friend.

Lucia stepped in and Bastian followed her unwillingly. The door fell close behind them and Bastian immediately felt caged up, though there shouldn't be any reason for that.

The room didn't look much different than the last time Bastian had been here. Only the desk under the left high window was not packed with paperwork anymore and there was a new cushy carpet in front of the bed. On this carpet Geoffrey was sitting and talking with nothing.

"Yes, yes." Geoffrey said happily. "Yes, I like it. Tell May that she should do it again." Then he stared at what looked to Bastian like empty air. "Yes, May!" Geoffrey exclaimed and clapped his hands with glee. "You're the best." Then he turned slightly to the right. "And now you, Ark."

Bastian turned to Lucia, not exactly knowing what he should think or do. Lucia only stared at her brother with quiet agony in her eyes. Then she stepped forward and called for him. Geoffrey looked up surprised and turned to them. The look of utter innocence that Bastian would have thought impossible for Geoffrey to adopt shocked him almost as much as the childish giggle and broad smile that followed it.

"Kitty!" Geoffrey exclaimed, scrambled to his feet and flung his arms around Lucia. She didn't seem to be surprised at his nickname for her and only patted his back.

"Hello, Geoffrey. How are you?" He ignored her question and snuggled up to her.

"I missed you, Kitty." He pecked her cheek. "I missed you very much. Visit me more often." He gazed at her with an expectant expression. Lucia only smiled sadly.

"I'll try." Geoffrey was seemingly content with her answer and pecked her again. Then he seemed to notice Bastian.

"Oh!" he said surprised and stared at Bastian for a second. The blond man smiled tentatively and opened his mouth to say something, but Geoffrey beat him to it. "A birdie! Kitty brought a birdie!" He immediately let go off Lucia and flung his arms around Bastian. The blond man was completely taken by surprise and so perplex that he could only return the hug. "Hello, Birdie." Geoffrey huddled against the confused Bastian and pecked him as well. Bastian stared first at him in shock, then at Lucia.

The Count was glad to see even a tiny smile on her face, even though it couldn't dispel her sadness. Geoffrey meanwhile had turned back the carpet and was already talking with his invisible friends. "Look, May. Kitty brought us a birdie. No, Ark, it's a nice birdie." He turned to Bastian and looked him directly in the eye. "You're a nice birdie, right?" He had such an innocent and serious expression that Bastian wasn't sure what he should answer. Luckily, Lucia stood in for him.

"Of course he is nice. Otherwise I wouldn't have brought him with me, would I?" Geoffrey turned to her, thought for a moment and then nodded with a grin.

"Yes, Kitty only brings nice people." He cuddled Bastian again. "Ark is always mean to new friends. Don't be mad at him, birdie."

"I'm not." Bastian choked out. Geoffrey grinned for a last time at him and then practically skipped back to the carpet. He flopped down there and started a new conversation with his invisible friends. Bastian turned to Lucia with an incredulous expression. She was focused on her brother and didn't notice the unspoken question in his eyes.

Something outside the window caught Geoffrey´s attention and he stared at the sky in wonder. "Look, Don, there's a purple cloud. But does it have rain?" He cocked his head thoughtfully. "No!" he then exclaimed with glee. "It will rain juice! Tasty juice. Isn't that great, May?" He turned around to Lucia. "Kitty, I want juice!"

"Of course you can have juice." Lucia answered with a strained smile. "Geoffrey, we have to leave now, okay?" His face fell for a second.

"My juice..."

"I promise you will get your juice." His expression immediately brightened.

"Yay, juice. Bye, Kitty. Bye, birdie." He waved to them enthusiastically. "Visit me again."

"We will." Lucia whispered and turned. Bastian followed her slightly dumbfounded. He didn't even really notice that they were returning to Lucia´s room and that Lucia ordered a maid to bring her brother his juice.

Lucia resumed her position in the chair near the window. Bastian was not sure what to do or say. Geoffrey´s state had made him speechless. Therefore he just sat down opposite of Lucia and waited for an explanation. Lucia stared out of the window, stubbornly ignoring Bastian. Her breathing was heavy and she blinked more than normally. Bastian hated to see her so, but there was nothing he could do to help her. And that hurt.

When she still remained silent after about ten minutes, Bastian dared to ask her again. "Lady Lucia, please tell me what exactly happened four months ago." Lucia sighed shakily and pressed her eyes shut.

"Four months ago..." she started slowly. "Queen Elincia had a grand dinner. There were many guests from the southern counties and their knights. At the beginning, everything seemed normal and fine. The regular conversations took place; some nobles complained about taxes or their subordinates, some knights told war stories, the usual things, you know?" Bastian nodded slowly. Lucia took a deep breath. "I was sitting in the vicinity of Queen Elincia as usual, Geoffrey was at his normal seat as well. He was too far away from me to talk with him, so I didn't notice at first that something was wrong." She stopped, pressed a hand against her nose and mouth and made a strange noise that sounded a bit like gagging. Bastian interpreted it as a suppressed sob.

"It happened during the main course. I was talking to my neighbour - I don't even know anymore who it was -, when I heard the scraping of a chair. Geoffrey had jumped up and knocked over his chair. With one hand he tried to support himself on his neighbour´s chair, the other was at his throat. He was gasping and didn't seem to be able to breathe properly." Lucia couldn't suppress a small sob now. "He took a step back and stumbled over his chair. Then he just fell. I sprang up from my seat and ran over to him. It was a horrid sight."

Lucia stopped and leaned her head on her hand. Bastian reached out for her and gently laid his hand on her knee. She didn't push him away. "He was lying there, gasping for air and staring at me with wide eyes. I didn't know what was going on. I was so taken by surprise that I couldn't think clearly. I just cried for someone to get a healer. Then Lord Wolfram just grabbed Geoffrey, threw him over his shoulder and carried him to the infirmary. He said that getting a healer would take too long. First I wanted to follow him, but then I heard someone yell 'Poison!' behind me. Somehow that made me think clear again."

Lucia straightened herself now. There was no sign of tears on her face, only a stubborn frown. Nonetheless Bastian didn't take his hand back; it was obvious that Lucia was just pushing her sadness back and that it would come back in a few minutes, worse than before. "I ordered the guards to close every exit and to let nobody leave the castle. I only send those who I knew to be trustworthy. ... We found the assassins later. Originally they wanted to kill Queen Elincia, but something went wrong and Geoffrey got the poisoned dish." She gulped hard. "Just by chance he-" She shook her head.

"What happened with Geoffrey in the infirmary?" Bastian asked quietly.

"The healers... they weren't sure what kind of poison had been used. The symptoms were too general, they couldn't pinpoint it. They said that they knew at least four or five possible poisons that matched his symptoms." She sobbed quietly once.

"And they had to choose one antidote." Lucia nodded again, this time some tears managed to get through her stubborn resistance. "And it was the wrong one."

"Yes." Lucia tried to swallow her new tears, but they didn't let her anymore. "They discovered too late that they were wrong. They tried to give him the right potion but- It was too late." She wiped off her tears and turned her head away from Bastian. She was probably ashamed of her weakness. He squeezed her knee lightly. "They could save his life, but... but the combination of the poison and the wrong antidote caused him to..." She couldn't continue. She stood up abruptly and paced. Her tears were slightly under her control again. Bastian watched her worriedly and reluctantly he walked over to her. "I wanted to kill those bastards." she suddenly spat out. "If I had been the judge, they would have had an unbelievable painful death."

"Lucia..." Bastian tried to grab her shoulder to stop her from pacing.

"I wanted to snap their necks with my own hands. What they did to my brother is unforgivable. Elincia was too merciful." She slapped the tears from her cheeks. "Because of them Geoffrey is now a wreck. He is like child. He sees things that are not there. He's gone mad!" The anger had gained control of her. With an angry scream she punched the next stone wall. Bastian winced in her stead. She barely registered the pain. "Why him! Why not someone different?"

"Lucia!" Bastian exclaimed surprised and shocked, and grabbed her slightly bleeding fist. "How can you say that?" He turned her forcefully around to look her in the eye. They were swimming with tears, but the anger and hate was still clearly visible. "How can you wish someone else this fate?"

"You have no right to chide me!" she screamed and slapped him with her free hand. He wasn't fazed by that and kept his hold on her. "You didn't have to see him like this for months! You weren't here, when it happened! You weren't there, when he woke up and called me Kitty and said that there where bunnies flying through the air! You weren't here, when the healers said that they couldn't help him! You weren't there, when Elincia had a breakdown because of it and I was the only one who could console her even though I wanted to do just the same! You weren't there for me, when I needed you!" The anger disappeared suddenly, fear and sadness replaced it and Lucia sagged against Bastian. He instantly put his arms around her to steady her.

His mouth had gone dry and there was a thick lump in his throat. "I'm sorry." he whispered hoarsely. Lucia clawed her fingers in his robe and sobbed loudly.

Bastian held her, whispered sometimes soothing words in her ear while she seemingly let loose all the pent-up sadness and desperation of the last four months. It tore at his heart that he himself had added to her pain by his absence. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." he whispered again and again until Lucia looked up with red eyes.

"Don't leave me again."

"I won't." He pressed a kiss to her forehead. She snivelled once. "I promise."

/=/=/=/

A maid entered Geoffrey´s room. He was sitting on the carpet and singing to himself.

"Raindrops, milkdrops, honeydrops, appledrops, sweet drops, drops, drops, drops and more drops." The maid ignored his behaviour and put the tray with the berry juice and a glass on the table. Geoffrey heard the clacking and turned. "Juice!" he exclaimed happily and instantly crawled over.

"Yes, Sir." the maid said with a bow. "I hope you like black currant and grape juice." Geoffrey nodded and pulled himself up at the table. His face fell, when he saw the contents of the tray.

"Only one glass?" He turned to the maid. She smiled nervously. "But how should May, Ark and Don drink their juice?" Then he turned his head and looked over his shoulder, or at his shoulder; the maid was not sure. "You don't like juice, Ark? But why? Juice is yummy!" Geoffrey seemed to listen to someone and frowned. "Well, if you say so." He seemed discontent. Then he brightened suddenly. "Then there's more for me!"

"Sir..." Geoffrey turned to the maid with a broad grin. "Can you manage on your own?" Geoffrey blinked confused. The maid dropped her eyes nervously. "I mean, can you pour the juice on your own?"

"Of course!" Geoffrey said with a serious smile. He grabbed the jug and cautiously poured himself a glass. His hands shook slightly, but he made no mess. "Look!" Geoffrey gazed at the maid with glee.

"You did very well, sir." the girl said and curtsied. "Then, may I leave?" Geoffrey however ignored her and drowned his juice. The maid took that as a 'yes' and hurried out of the room. When she was in the corridor, she took a deep breath to calm her nerves. The guard smiled at her sympathetically. When the maid noticed his gaze, she blushed and ran off. The armour-clad man sighed lowly and made a grab for the key.

"Sir Hartmann!" The guard turned around and let the hand which had formerly been searching for the key fall to his side. A young boy was hurrying towards him. The page stopped short before him and bowed hastily. "Sir Hartmann, there's a messenger for you. Something about your daughter." Sir Hartmann blanched.

"Where is he?"

"The messenger's waiting in the first hall." Sir Hartmann thanked the page quickly and hurried away. The boy followed him.

Meanwhile Geoffrey had drunken all of his juice and had started to sing again. "One drop, two drops, three drops, four drops, five drops, six drops-" He suddenly stopped his twirling and dancing and stared out of the window. Then he whirled around. "Don, I want more juice!" He frowned. "Why don't you have juice? You drank most of it." He pouted. "You're a meanie." Geoffrey crossed his arms angrily and glared at the thin air next to the table. As if someone had called him he turned to the window. "Yes, May! A great idea! I will ask Kitty."

He bounced over to the door. "I want more juice!" He waited patiently for five seconds. "Juuuuuice!" He waited for another five seconds. "Juice, juice, juice, juice." he chanted happily, flailing his arms a bit. After two minutes he tilted his head confused. "Ark, where is my juice?"

Geoffrey frowned and tapped against the door. "Juuuuice!" He turned to look over to the carpet. "Ark, why does Kitty not answer?" He listened to the reply and pouted. "Kitty is not mean." He stared at the door again. "Ah!" Geoffrey brightened suddenly and clapped his hands happily. "I will go to Kitty. Kitty said I'm not allowed to leave, but I want juice." He grabbed the handle and yanked at the door.

It swung open.

The grin on Geoffrey´s face fell for a second. "Huh?" He peeked into the corridor. The grin returned. "May, Ark, Don, the muzzle is open!" Geoffrey giggled happily and crouched down. He looked to the left and to the right; the corridor was empty. Only his childish laughter could be heard. "Now we can investigate the labyrinth." He turned to his invisible friends and seemingly wanted to say more, but another invisible creature caught his attention first. "Bunny!"

He jumped into the corridor and pointed at something in the air. "Look, look, look! There's the yellow bunny again!" Geoffrey squeaked happily and jumped up and down. "And the kettle is with it as well!" He suddenly frowned incredulous and surprised. "That's not fair, Ark." he whined and started to run after the invisible creature. "I want to ride the bunny as well."

He ran through the corridors giggling and calling for his invisible friends and the bunny. The people he met on his zigzag course through the castle shyed away from him and only stared in fright after him, while he slowly but surely neared the high west tower.

/=/=/=/

Marcia sauntered from the stables over to the training area of the court yard. Even if she still had to turn around a corner she could already hear Kieran. She could not discern what he said, but he did sound as excited as ever. A gentle smile crept on her face.

She immediately spotted Kieran. Surprisingly he wasn't training; he was standing apart from the training knights. Marcia sighed good-naturedly, when she saw a person clad in white and the gentle blue light next to Kieran.

"And I say it's only a scratch!" Kieran exclaimed angrily. The healer ignored his complaints and just finished his work. When Marcia reached them, the young priest just stepped back, nodded to Kieran and left the two alone. Kieran huffed still annoyed and wiped at the blood stains on his sleeve.

"Hello, Kieran." Marcia whispered in his ear. Kieran startled and whirled around.

"Fiend, how dare you sneaking up to the great Kieran!" His anger instantly lessened, when he recognized the fiend. "Oh, Marcia." He threw her a stern glance. "Not even you may sneak up on me." She only smiled at him.

"What happened this time?"

"Only a scratch." Kieran said defiantly and raised his arm. There was a tear in the cloth and more blood than a normal scratch would leave there. Marcia frowned slightly at the red-haired knight. He gazed back stubbornly. "Nothing can hold back the great Kieran. If the priest hadn't stopped me, I would have won the fight."

"I know you would." Marcia said in a calming tone and put her hand on his arm. "But I still don't want you to hurt yourself." Kieran humphed at that.

"Alright, the great Kieran will fulfil your wish and be more careful in the future." The brilliant smile on her face made his ears turn a gentle red. He took her hand in his and squeezed it surprisingly gently.

Their conversation turned to other topics and the castle was peaceful for a while.

"Bunny!" Kieran and Marcia startled surprised. Both turned towards the voice. "Bunny, bunny, bunny!" The former General of Crimea ran through the arcade on the ground floor, with his arms stretched out and squealing and laughing loudly. Kieran and Marcia stared at him in shock. "Bunny, bunny, bunny!" Geoffrey tripped and nearly fell. "Don! Tripping's baaaad!" With another chant of "Bunny, bunny, bunny" he disappeared in the corridor towards the west tower.

"Kieran?" The red knight was frozen; incredulously he stared after his former idol. He hadn't seen him since the incident. Nearly nobody had seen him since the incident. Kieran had known that Geoffrey was not completely... sane anymore, but this was so bizarre that he thought that this could only be a doppelganger. "Kieran." Marcia urged. The knight blinked slowly and turned to her. She looked distressed. "Shouldn't we... stop him?" She threw a glance towards the corridor Geoffrey had disappeared in. "We can't let him run around in this... state."

Kieran nodded slowly, still in some kind of trance. "Yes." He shook his head to dispel whatever had slowed him down. "Yes, come on." He sped after his former superior, Marcia just one step behind him.

Geoffrey giggled happily. He had been so long caged up in that room and was enjoying his freedom to the fullest. He turned around a corner. Something in the corner of his eye caught his attention and he stopped abruptly. He nearly fell over. There was an open door to his left and he could see a flight of winding stairs leading upwards. He clapped his hands in glee. "May, Ark, Don, look!" He looked to his right and pointed at the door. "There's a gigantic snake. And we can climb it up." He whirled his head back to the door as if something had flown past him. "Hey!" he yelled and ran to the stairs. "Wait for me!" As fast as he could he followed his friends upwards.

"Sir?" Kieran yelled. He and Marcia rounded the corner which Geoffrey had just passed mere seconds ago. "Where is he?" Kieran looked down the corridor with a deep frown. The corridor was long and they should be able to see the former General. He was not that much faster than them.

Marcia gasped slightly for air and looked around. "Maybe he took another turn or-" She stopped suddenly. Kieran turned to her confused.

"What did you-?" Marcia clasped her hand over Kieran´s mouth. He frowned at her incredulously.

"Sh." Marcia hissed and turned her head towards the open tower door. "Do you hear that?" Kieran strained his ears and indeed he heard something coming from the staircase. Laughter and "Bunny!". He yanked her hand from his mouth and stormed up the stairs. "Wait!" a pale Marcia yelled and ran after him.

Kieran took two or three steps at once. His breathing sounded incredibly loud, his shoes smashed against the stone, the plates of his armour scratched against each other, but he could still clearly hear the childish voice from above. Too clearly for his taste.

"May, Don, you're mean. Why don't you wait for me?"

Only one third left. He was nearly there.

"I wanted to fly with the bunny too. ... Hey! No, don't go without me."

Only a few steps more. He could already see the light, it was coming around the corner.

"Oh, that looks fun. I want to walk on the rainbow as well!"

"No!" Kieran rounded the corner. The light from the outside blinded him for a second. He stormed into the light.

And suddenly everything moved in slow motion.

Geoffrey was stepping on the battlements, reaching out for something, laughing, giggling. Kieran reached out for him, tried to run, but everything was so slow! He felt like trying to run in water, but ultimately failing to move even one inch. Geoffrey jumped, screamed "Wait for me!" and Kieran yelled something, but couldn't hear himself. He was almost there. His hand was so close! Geoffrey seemed to poise in the air, seemed as if he would fly. The light on his bright hair and the glowing white of his clothes gave him an ethereal glow. He seemed so inhuman, like a fairy or a ghost. Kieran´s own hand seemed so solid and strangely unreal. Kieran could almost see the rainbow and the bunny and Geoffrey´s friends. They were laughing and happy and-

The magic moment was over.

Geoffrey fell, Kieran smashed against the battlements, the stone dug deep in his side, Marcia smashed against him. Somewhere somebody screamed "No!".

Kieran got only a small glimpse of the ground, grabbed Marcia roughly and whirled around. He pressed her against himself, she clawed her finger in his shirt. Together they slid down the cold stone, both panting heavily.

There were screams and cries and someone bellowed orders around. Kieran felt Marcia´s shaking, he himself was as white as chalk. Marcia sobbed lowly. Down in the courtyard a woman was screaming in pain. Kieran and Marcia were gasping, or sobbing, and their heartbeat pounded loudly against their eardrum. It was so unbelievably loud.

But still, the only sound the two could hear, was childish laughter and the sickening crunch of a body meeting the ground.

* * *

I'm sorry, Geoffrey. ;o; I really love you, but the prompt forced me to write this. I hope I finally can write happy things again in the future. I have enough of this sad stuff.


End file.
